Going, going, gone with the times

For decades, generations visited John McKiernan’s of Corlesmore knowing what eluded them elsewhere could be found at the classic country wholesale and general merchants.

‘From a needle to an anchor’, promises Ballyjamesduff Co Operative Livestock Mart of their largest single auction to date via online site MartEye.ie. In reality, the 2,000 plus lots are more reflective of country living as a whole, a staggering aggregate of everything from christening candles to a burial shroud, and all in between.

As a result, interest in the sale is at a peak, with growing regard also from national and even international bidders across the two day auction (August 30-31).

When the MacKenna family from Cavan Town, who inherited the historic roadside property and its contents, first approached Ballyjamesduff Co Op, John Tevlin conservatively figured it could take up to four days to sort and number the lots. In the end it took several weeks and a team of four to complete the laborious task of cataloguing.

“It was some undertaking,” reflects Mart Manager John. “You could open one box and there was a porcelain doll, and in the next there was a burial habit.”

The third eldest of six, John Patrick McKiernan took over the country store and post office from his parents - Patrick and mother Mary Anne - on February 3, 1958, age 33. In doing so he became the third generation to operate the crossroad’s retailer, John’s grandfather having served as postmaster before that from the early 1880s.

John ran the business until 2007 when poor heath forced his retirement, age 85. He passed away on December 3, 2014, in his 91st year.

Whole life

“His whole life was in this shop,” remembers Marie MacKenna, John’s niece. “He’d have been working here from the age of 12, from the time he left national school. He never married, never had a family.”

The grey steel aluminium door leading into the premises, closed for almost a decade and a half, is stiff to push and groans at the hinges. The bracket lock clacks loudly when requisite pressure is applied. A veritable Marie Celeste waits inside.

Aside from a semblance of order put to “bits and bobs,” ahead of auction, all else remains just as John left it the day the shop last closed.

To the immediate eye it appears a hodgepodge of random items. Delve deeper though and it refocuses as a fascinating collection of untouched artefacts, a sepia-tinged portrayal of how things once were. As the world turned, and in its spinning things changed. Not here however. At least not for a while.

The clear corrugated sheet roofing is mottled with vegetative green. What chinks of daylight that do breakthrough are just enough to illuminate the farthest recesses.

Senses

Shelves filled with milking jackets and store coats, fencing, a box of round pin plugs and beside them the necessary adaptors, a couple of yellowing Champion Milk cartons filled with now rusted screws. The hierarchy of senses is drawn to several blocks of Frytex original and Homestead margarine at the base of a large counter fridge, long since switched off. A bag of plastic Rosary Beads distracts, before attention is pulled towards what remains of a large tub of lemon flavoured bon-bons, now disintegrated into yellowy saccharine dusk.

Ironically, at the bottom of one dusty glass shelving unit, tucked between an array of cuddly toys and surprisingly a remote-control quadracopter, is a time capsule and a clock labelled ‘Blast from the Past’.

More curious items found are a rusted long-headed loy type shovel subsequently identified as a tool used for laying old clay pipes, and boxes upon boxes of Judson’s Gold enamel paint, now something of a collector’s item selling at £90 per pot on eBay.

“They don’t make these things like this anymore,” is the regular refrain as more items are picked through and marvelled at.

“We’ve cornered the market in globes,” laughs Tomás, tugging at a tatty brown cardboard box nestled beside two rows of Tilley lamps, and lifting to appraise an ornate glass lamp cover.

He peels away only to soon return holding two rubber open cylinders held together by a strap. “Even some older farmers couldn’t identify this for us,” he declares. “It was used for straightening bull’s horns if they were growing crooked.”

Keen interest

Among the larger lots drawing keen interest is a 1965 Cavan registered (FID) Massey Ferguson 35 (Lot 2), with original tax book. John McKiernan was the vehicle’s one “careful” owner, and estimates are it could sell for several thousand once the hammer eventually lowered. “It would be lovely if it sold and stayed in Cavan,” suggests Tomás.

During his years as a trader John had held exclusivity for the county for a number of suppliers - not least Irish Cement and also some branded fertilisers. Lorry loads were sold without ever seeing the rolling fields of Corlesmore. Located on the “back road” between Ballinagh and Arvagh, by admission “in the middle of nowhere really”, yet for years McKiernan’s shop somehow remained at the centre of all things.

Scattered in piles across a wooden desk, next to the ornate press button cash register John once proudly presided, are collections of papers, various ledgers and a receipts book for ‘Patrick McKiernan Wholesale and Retail General Merchant’. The date is pre-war, and the telephone number on the premises is ‘3’.

“In those days people used the phone as their point of contact, and because John had the coin box outside, you’d have people queuing, not to make calls, but to receive them from family living abroad, in New York or England, 8 o’clock at night, or after Mass,” recalls Marie.

Awe

As children Marie and Tomás, and their two other siblings, Lily and the late Mannix, were in awe at John’s acumen.

“He could add up a bill himself, and starting from the top, where most people would start from the bottom. Everyone also commented on his acumen, that he’d know numbers, prices, you name it,” says Marie.

Tomás and Marie share fond memories of their uncle, who they described as “very generous, very giving”.

“A lot of people would’ve had accounts here, and when they got an allowance, or a farmer sold a cow, he extended that credit to them. He understood the role his shop played in the community and he understood his customers. They respected him for that,” says Marie.

Both agree also that the Corlesmore store was very much “of its time”, open six days a week, closed only on Sundays by the deeply religious John.

“They’d come at all hours, knocking the side door,” adds Tomás. “But it wasn’t just a shop, it was more than that. It was place for people to meet, have chats. Even in Dublin I’ve come across people who’d say ‘there was a shop down there that was kind of unique’ and they’d say it was McKiernan’s of Corlesmore.”

Ballyjamesduff Mart Manager John says the McKiernan Shop and House clearance certainly seems to have “caught the public’s attention” - even amongst the co-op's own committee members.

He describes John McKiernan as having been “way ahead of his time”.

“His reputation was if you were looking for an item that couldn’t to be found anywhere else, you’d surely find it at McKiernan’s shop in Corlesmore. We can see that much was true. We didn’t quite come across an anchor, but there are needles - see lot number 997 for packing needles or lot number 1,455 for knitting needles!”

The clearance auction begins Tuesday, August 30, and continues Wednesday, August 31, commencing each day at 12.30pm. To register download the ‘marteye’ app and log onto BJD machinery to register to bid.